She didn’t flinch.
“I thought I was saving you,” she continued. “But I was only delaying the inevitable. Elliot showed me that.”
My stomach dropped.
“Elliot?” I whispered.
Sable’s eyes lit — not warmly. Purposefully.
“He sees the whole board, Seph,” she said. “Not just one life. Not just ours.”
I held her gaze. “And where do you fit on that board?”
Her jaw tightened.
“So that’s it?” I said quietly. “You’re fighting now? For him?”
Sable exhaled through her nose. “The Equinox isn’t what you’ve been told. The injustice out there is real. Entire populations crushed. Lives erased. All of it sanctioned by the Council of Light.”
“And Elliot?” I asked.
“He’s willing to end it,” she said simply. “To burn the rot out at the root.”
I swallowed. “And you’re willing to help him do that.”
She didn’t deny it.
“Yes.”
I leaned back against the headboard.
A knock sounded.
“Can we come in—” Dev’s voice started.
The door opened and he stepped inside, dressed in a fine white shirt and dress pants, like this was a day at the office. Jess followed close behind him, already drawing breath to speak—
—and was shoved aside by a blur of silver hair.
“Jesus Christ, Ash,” she snapped. “Walk much?”
Ash didn’t slow. He crossed the room in three strides and was at my bedside.
Sable rose smoothly, straightening her dress. “I’ll give you some time,” she said.
I watched her move to the door. She paused for what felt like a half second.
Something in my chest slipped loose.
I almost didn’t hear Ash say my name.
“Seph.”
I turned. He was leaning as close to the bed as he could get, careful not to touch me yet. In his hands were my gloves. His mismatched eyes were wide. Uncertain.
He held them out.
“For you.”
